1. Technical Field
The invention relates to communications networks. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for arbitrating access from multiple requesters to multiple shared resources over a shared communications link.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Arbitration for access to a shared communication link is usually performed with a round robin or priority encoder algorithm. In a typical round robin or priority encoder based arbitration scheme, the choice of which requester is granted access next is made without knowledge of which resource is being accessed. This results in consecutive requests to the same resource. As a result the communication link is idle while the resource completes its post transaction recovery and while it performs its pretransfer setup. This may result in under utilization (loss of efficiency) of the link due to latency in access to the shared resource.
It would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for arbitrating access from multiple requestors to multiple shared resources over a shared communications link while minimizing latency and maximizing link utilization.